Patrick Hite, phite@newsleader.com
Dec. 7, 2017
STAUNTON - Jim Goodloe got a tap on the shoulder while standing in the lunch line at Robert E. Lee High School almost 56 years ago.
It was his football coach, Alger Pugh. The coach pulled Goodloe out of line and told him he was moving from end to center.
Pugh saw something in Goodloe — "toughness," is how teammate Charlie Bishop described it — that convinced him he would make a good center. Goodloe wasn't convinced it was the best move, but he only said two words to his coach that day he was told — "Yes sir."
That's not surprising. Goodloe remembers when Pugh took over the team in 1961.
Check out this stellar kick by a Lee high football player
"It was fun," said Sam Painter, a junior that season.
Unlike the 1962 team, the '63 squad had a loss on the record. Players from that team are still struggling to explain how, in the eighth game of the season, Lee High lost 19-13 to Natural Bridge. It's even more puzzling knowing that Natural Bridge lost to Lexington that season, and Lee beat Lexington 81-0.
"Tons of penalties," Bishop said. "We were overconfident and not really paying attention."
"That might be the biggest upset in the state of Virginia," Goodloe added.
That loss snapped a 22-game winning streak that stretched back to the 1961 season.
"If you gave him daylight he was gone," Painter said of Peduto "He was that fast. And [Huntley] seldom ran in a straight line. That made him very hard to tackle."
Bishop and Bob Kennedy alternated at quarterback that season, with Bishop finishing with four touchdown passes and Kennedy with three.
Bishop said switching with Kennedy didn't bother him.
"We knew that was the way it was going to be," Bishop said. "I don't remember any backbiting because you wanted to live up to Pugh's expectations so much, we all wanted to do our best."
The News Leader's coverage of the 1963 Valley District all-star selections, featuring four members of the Lee High state championship team. (Photo: Archive)
That season Lee had 11 all-state selections. Peduto was first team all-state, while Huntley and Goodloe were second team. The other eight were honorable mention: Bishop, Kennedy, Painter, Dennis Masincup, Larry Smith, Bill Viglione, Doug McMichen and Peter Menk.
The other note of interest that season was the opening of a new football stadium for Lee High, Winston Wine Memorial Stadium. It opened for the seventh game of the season, a 25-6 Lee High win over Harrisonburg.
"I remember being with Alger Pugh and all the players picking up pebbles right before the grass was planted," Cullen said of the new stadium.
Previously Lee had played in the baseball stadium.
"It sure was nice to fall in grass instead of the baseball infield," Goodloe said of the new field. "That hurt."
Cullen said playing in the new stadium made him, and he would guess others, feel like an NFL player.
"It was a special time and the team as a whole felt special and players individually felt special," Cullen said. "It was a wonderful time to grow up."
Dec. 7, 2017
STAUNTON - Jim Goodloe got a tap on the shoulder while standing in the lunch line at Robert E. Lee High School almost 56 years ago.
It was his football coach, Alger Pugh. The coach pulled Goodloe out of line and told him he was moving from end to center.
Pugh saw something in Goodloe — "toughness," is how teammate Charlie Bishop described it — that convinced him he would make a good center. Goodloe wasn't convinced it was the best move, but he only said two words to his coach that day he was told — "Yes sir."
That's not surprising. Goodloe remembers when Pugh took over the team in 1961.
Check out this stellar kick by a Lee high football player
"It was fun," said Sam Painter, a junior that season.
Unlike the 1962 team, the '63 squad had a loss on the record. Players from that team are still struggling to explain how, in the eighth game of the season, Lee High lost 19-13 to Natural Bridge. It's even more puzzling knowing that Natural Bridge lost to Lexington that season, and Lee beat Lexington 81-0.
"Tons of penalties," Bishop said. "We were overconfident and not really paying attention."
"That might be the biggest upset in the state of Virginia," Goodloe added.
That loss snapped a 22-game winning streak that stretched back to the 1961 season.
"If you gave him daylight he was gone," Painter said of Peduto "He was that fast. And [Huntley] seldom ran in a straight line. That made him very hard to tackle."
Bishop and Bob Kennedy alternated at quarterback that season, with Bishop finishing with four touchdown passes and Kennedy with three.
Bishop said switching with Kennedy didn't bother him.
"We knew that was the way it was going to be," Bishop said. "I don't remember any backbiting because you wanted to live up to Pugh's expectations so much, we all wanted to do our best."
The News Leader's coverage of the 1963 Valley District all-star selections, featuring four members of the Lee High state championship team. (Photo: Archive)
That season Lee had 11 all-state selections. Peduto was first team all-state, while Huntley and Goodloe were second team. The other eight were honorable mention: Bishop, Kennedy, Painter, Dennis Masincup, Larry Smith, Bill Viglione, Doug McMichen and Peter Menk.
The other note of interest that season was the opening of a new football stadium for Lee High, Winston Wine Memorial Stadium. It opened for the seventh game of the season, a 25-6 Lee High win over Harrisonburg.
"I remember being with Alger Pugh and all the players picking up pebbles right before the grass was planted," Cullen said of the new stadium.
Previously Lee had played in the baseball stadium.
"It sure was nice to fall in grass instead of the baseball infield," Goodloe said of the new field. "That hurt."
Cullen said playing in the new stadium made him, and he would guess others, feel like an NFL player.
"It was a special time and the team as a whole felt special and players individually felt special," Cullen said. "It was a wonderful time to grow up."
